500 words a day on whatever I want

John Carlos

John Carlos (1945- ), a Black American runner, won the bronze medal for the 200m dash at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. It was he and gold-medal winner Tommie Smith who held up their black-gloved fists in a Black Power salute as the US national anthem played.

That was Plan C. Plan A was a boycott, but they killed Martin Luther King, Jr. Plan B was to meet with the Mexican students protesting the Olympics. But they killed the Mexican students. As they stood there doing Plan C, they were both listening for a gunshot.

Why he did it:

“I thought about how humiliating and difficult it was for a black man to get a decent job to support his family. At the same time, while education was hard to find, the pusher man wasn’t. I thought about the way drugs were as easy to find as a bottle of soda pop in any ghetto in America. I thought about Harlem when I was growing up and how people overnight would become junkies, shells of people, zombies before my young eyes. I thought about all the greatness that black people had brought to the table for America, how we built this country from the sweat of our brows and arches of our backs, and then, in turn, we were always second-class citizens. We could go out and win medals. We could go out and win wars. We could break all the world records, and we could be heroes as long as we stayed between the lines. But once we got off the field, we were just regular old nothings. I was very saddened by that, and felt that somebody needed to get up and make a statement and to the planet Earth and say, ‘Hey, world, the United States is not like you might think it is for blacks and other people of color. Just because we have USA on our chest does not mean everything is peachy keen and we are living large.’ I remember when we started to make noise about the boycott, a rising snarl started to rise from people who said, ‘You should be happy that we allowed you to go represent America in the Olympic Games.’ I would always think to myself, “Happy? Happy to not be able to feed our families? Happy to live in ghettoes with more drugs than hope? Happy to graduate as a people from slavery to athletics and second-class citizenship? Walk in my shoes and see if you smile.'”

Malcolm X told him be true to himself even when it hurts.

Martin Luther King Jr told him he should stand for those who “couldn’t or wouldn’t stand for themselves.”

Jackie Robinson told him he was on the right side of history.

Jesse Owens – tried to talk him out of it.

The FBI followed Carlos for five years after that. No one would give him a coaching job. It took 40 years to go from villain to hero in the eyes of most Americans.

– Abagond, 2016.

Source: “The John Carlos Story” (2011) by John Carlos with David Zirin.

I think it is harder for them because BLM has no clear leader. FBI would have to follow and harass a large amount of people because there is no clear indication of who is part of them and who isn’t. I have a friend that is and he is very careful about not letting people know his involvement.

The FBI is prepared to follow and harass a large amount of people. They also have a very clear map of who is involved and who is not.

All electronic communications globally are captured, analyzed and stored for future reference. That includes all cellphones, landlines, computers, street and traffic cameras, social media and email. There are very few ways to avoid the all seeing eye of the State. Even computers that are “air-gapped”, meaning they are not connected to the internet are vulnerable to snooping.

Police have license plate readers to monitor gatherings. There is facial recognition software and gait (the unique way everyone walks) recognition software.

“I think it is harder for them because BLM has no clear leader. FBI would have to follow and harass a large amount of people because there is no clear indication of who is part of them and who isn’t.”

The FB I doesn’t need to follow and harrass any “head” of black lives matter” They already feel that any and every black person that speaks up against racism/ white supremacy is a BLM activist. Do you think white people care enough to distinguish between blacks that are or isn’t apart of BLM?

I always think of these brothas, when the olypics come round every 4 years. And because i think of them, i can’t bring myself to watch it. My 1st time was back in 2012 and that was only because i wanted to watch lil gabby. 🙂

God bless that man. I am so selfish compared to the black icons of the past, to be honest I would have listened to Jessie Owens and fell back. I would have pulled an OJ and just focused on myself. When I see this legend’s sacrifice, I am a little disappointed in myself, I need to do better.

One thing that is little known amongst people about the 1968 Black Power salute. Peter Norman, white Australian, finished second, but that is not the point. Norman was totally on board with the Black Power salute and even helped it:

“As journalist Martin Flanagan wrote; “They asked Norman if he believed in human rights. He said he did. They asked him if he believed in God. Norman, who came from a Salvation Army background, said he believed strongly in God. We knew that what we were going to do was far greater than any athletic feat. He said, ‘I’ll stand with you’.” Carlos said he expected to see fear in Norman’s eyes. He didn’t; “I saw love.”[11] On the way out to the medal ceremony, Norman saw the OPHR badge being worn by Paul Hoffman, a white member of the US Rowing Team, and asked him if he could wear it.[12] It was Norman who suggested that Smith and Carlos share the black gloves used in their salute, after Carlos left his pair in the Olympic Village.[4] This is the reason for Smith raising his right fist, while Carlos raised his left.”

Norman after that became a pariah in Australia. The Australian parliament a few years ago issued an apology to him. He qualified for the 1972 Olympics but Australia said “no”, for reasons we all understand. When they issued the apology, he was dead. Carlos and Smith were both pallbearers at his funeral.

As a boy Carlos dreamed of becoming an Olympic swimmer. He even won a citywide title in New York. But the only pools he could train at for the Olympics were in the White parts of the city and they would kick him out because he was Black. So he wound up becoming a runner instead. 

I can see the whole hand over the heart thing similar to the ‘Nazi’ for ‘Aryan Supremacy’ salute. They doe the same thing before ‘the Seigh Heil” This country just needs to let it go. It’s not disrespecting just to stand there in silence if a person wishes to.